Michigan Advanced Aerial System Consortium

2013 Michigan UAS Conference

Industry leading guest speakers

	Brigadier General Michael A. Stone Assistant Adjutant General - Installations Michigan National Guard Brigadier General Michael A. Stone is the Assistant Adjutant General for Installations, Michigan Army National Guard and serves as Michigan’s Dual Status Commander for domestic response situations. He is responsible for Army armories and installations, strategic communications, strategic level cyber and National Guard employment initiatives. General Stone was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1989, designated as the Distinguished Military Graduate, through the University of Detroit Reserve Officer Training Corps program. He possesses a Bachelor of Arts degree in History, cum laude, from the University of Detroit, where he attended on a full academic scholarship. He also possesses a Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from the Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University School of Law) as well as a Master of Science, Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College. He previously commanded the 1776th Military Police Company in Taylor, Michigan, the 1-182nd Field Artillery Battalion in Detroit, Michigan, and he recently served as the Deputy Brigade Commander of the 177th Military Police Brigade in Taylor, Michigan. General Stone has deployed three times as a member of the National Guard; serving as a Military Police Officer in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, in support of Operation Joint Endeavor and most recently in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

	Paul McDuffee VP Government Relations & Strategy Insitu Inc. Mr. McDuffee is Insitu's vice president of government relations and strategy responsible for driving Insitu's future in civilian and commercial use of unmanned aircraft. Mr. McDuffee coordinatees Insitu's strategy development with parent company Boeing and is principal liaison with FAA in matters relating to regulation development for UAS operations in the national airspace. Mr. McDuffee was recently elected to the Board of Directors for the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and is currently serving as co-chair of the organization's UAS Advocacy Committee, chair of the newly formed Technical Committee, and Privacy Sub Group committee chair. Mr. McDuffee was a member of the FAA's small Unmanned Aircraft System Aviation Rulemaking Committee and is a current member of the FAA UAS Aviation Rulemaking Committee Steering Group completing work on the FAA’s UAS integration roadmap and implementation plan. Mr. McDuffee is also a working group chair on ASTM’s F-38 Committee developing industry consensus standards for small UAS and has recently been chosen as co-chair of the newly formed RTCA Special Committee 228 chartered by FAA to establish performance standards for UAS command and control and detect and avoid solutions.

	Ted Wierzbanowski Chairman F-38 UAS Committee ASTM Ted Wierzbanowski is a retired USAF Colonel and an experimental test pilot. Ted retired from the Air Force in 1994 and went to work at AeroVironment (AV) where he managed many advanced technology electric vehicle, distributed energy, and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) programs. He is currently the Chair of the ASTM F-38 UAS Standards Committee that is focused on developing consensus standards in support of the upcoming FAA rule on small UAS.

	Hilary M. King Director Navigation and Guidance Systems GE Aviation Systems Hilary King has over 20 years in the Aviation industry. In her current role, Hilary leads the development and long term strategic planning for GE’s Navigation and Guidance products including demonstration of civil FAA-certified applications facilitating UAS operations in the National Airspace System (NAS). Prior to joining GE in her current role, Hilary worked for L-3 as Programs Director for targeting and surveillance sensor payloads. Prior to L-3, Hilary held various positions at Honeywell including systems engineering, program management, and product line management leadership roles for commercial and military avionics products.

	Gilles Laflamme Director Mission Solutions CAE Inc Gilles Laflamme has over 25 years of experience in the field of Aerospace. Before joining CAE, Gilles worked for Bombardier Aerospace where he held the positions of Director, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Director, Sales and Business Development, for the Asia-Pacific region. In 2008, he was appointed Director, Mission Solutions, responsible for all airborne systems at CAE, including Augmented Visionics Systems (AVS), Uninhabited Aerial Systems (UAS), ISR Services, Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) systems and CF18 Life Cycle and Engineering Support.

	John R. Moore Principal Systems Engineer Rockwell Collins John R. Moore is a Principal Systems Engineer at Rockwell Collins in Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Platform Systems Engineering. Mr. Moore has 31 years of avionics engineering and project management experience, with emphasis on major aircraft platform integration programs. For the past ten years he has focused on UAS avionics architecture development, with emphasis on civil airspace integration. Mr. Moore is currently Principal Investigator in a Cooperative Agreement with NASA to develop and demonstrate a prototype Control and Non-Payload Communication waveform suitable as a basis for a civil certifiable UAS control link. He also serves as co-chair of the Command and Control Working Group of RTCA Special Committee 228 (Minimum Performance Standards for Unmanned Aircraft Systems).

	Mario Mairena Government Relations Manager Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) Since 2010, Mr. Mairena has served as the Government Relations Manager for the world's largest non-profit organization devoted exclusively to advancing the unmanned systems community. At AUVSI, he is the legislative lead for ground and maritime systems and robotics and is the lead for air issues at the state level. His responsibilities at the federal level include lobbying members of Congress in the House and Senate Armed Services, Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology and Transportation committees. Mr. Mairena works closely with the staff in the House Unmanned Systems and Robotics Caucuses and the Senate Unmanned Aerial Systems Caucus. At the state level Mr. Mairena works with AUVSI members, its chapters and stakeholders to prevent the passage of anti-unmanned aircraft systems legislation.

	Marc Moffatt Manager R&D Unmanned Aerial Systems Center of Excellence (Alma) Mr. Marc Moffatt served for twenty years in the Canadian Forces as an Air Combat Systems Officer. As an operator, instructor and standards officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Moffatt accumulated over 4,000 flying hours on CP-140 Aurora (P3 Orion) and Dash 8 (CT-142 Navigation Trainer). He also occupied a wide range of responsibilities, including Section Head of International Training Programs, leading the Air Force's efforts to market services and capabilities and capture significant new business from nations looking to outsource major training programs. After leaving the Air Force in 2007, he was hired by General Dynamics Canada as a Program Manager and subcontracting manager for the Maritime Helicopter Project (MHP). In the spring of 2012, Mr. Moffatt joined the Unmanned Aerial Systems Centre of Excellence as Manager for the R&D efforts. The number of partners and commercial exchange and opportunities has significantly grown since his arrival.

	Dale E. Kristof USAF ISR & SOF Directorate Medium Altitude UAS Division Dale E. Kristof, BS AsE UC 76, currently works in the USAF ISR & SOF Directorate, Medium Altitude UAS Division and shares half of his time supporting the USAF, Air Force Research Laboratory, Aerospace Systems Directorate, Turbine Engine Division, Engine Systems Branch. Through his career Dale has focused, as a Systems Engineer, on Futures Planning and Technology Assessment. He has worked with systems program offices and the logistics centers. Dale’s many responsibilities today include identifying new technologies and capabilities that could improve the capabilities of existing USAF systems such as the MQ-1 and MQ-9 UASs as well as future systems. Through his work with AFRL Dale is currently either sponsoring or managing over twenty Phase I and Phase II SBIR contracts some of which are supported either directly or indirectly by other contracted efforts and/or internal AFRL projects.

	Valde Garcia Senior Manager for Business Development in Michigan Wyle Valde Garcia is the senior manager for business development in Michigan for Wyle. Wyle opened a new facility in Sterling Heights near the Detroit Arsenal in May 2013. Wyle is a $1.1 billion company and provides engineering services to the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Army, and NASA. Prior to coming to Wyle Valde served in the Michigan State legislature for 12 years; two in the State House and the last ten in the State Senate. He served on the Senate Appropriations committee and focused on issues dealing with the Michigan State Police, the Michigan National Guard, homeland security and economic development. He retired at the end of 2010 due to term limits. As Senator Garcia, he introduced language in two 2004 budget bills which would have authorized the purchase of UAVs by the Michigan State Police and the Michigan National Guard. Valde also retired as a Colonel Garcia from the Michigan Army National Guard at the beginning of 2012 after serving thirty years in the U.S. Army (9 years), U.S. Army Reserves (9 years) and the Michigan National Guard (12 years). His last assignment in the National Guard was serving as the Director of Intelligence and Security. Valde earned a Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies in 2010 from the U.S. Army War College and is a life-long resident of Michigan. He currently resides in Howell.

	Dr. Stephen Morris President MLB Company Steve Morris is a well-known authority in the design and operation of small UAVs. He is the president the MLB Company of Mountain View, California. MLB produces miniature unmanned aircraft for commercial and government use. Dr. Morris has developed surveillance aircraft ranging in size from 6 inches to 6 feet, many of which operate autonomously. He has been the lead engineer for the design, development, and testing of airframe, flight control, and flight software for more than 20 UAV prototype aircraft and has over 1000 hours logged as a UAV operator. He has also served as a consultant for companies designing and building unmanned aircraft. In addition to his experience at MLB, Dr. Morris’ has previous engineering experience at the Lockheed-Martin Advanced Technology Center, Aurora Flight Sciences, and Boeing Aerospace. He is a member of AUVSI, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

	Robert F. Davis Chief Executive Officer and President PROXY Technologies, INC. Robert Davis brings 20+ years of leadership experience with Lockheed Martin Corporation and SRA International in managing and growing aerospace and services businesses. He holds an engineering degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a Master of Science in Computer Science from Monmouth University and a Masters in Business Administration from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

	Craig S. Witte General Manager Merrill Aviation & Defense Craig Witte has more than 20 years experience across the Aerospace and Defense industries, holding leadership positions at General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Harris Corporation, and Cubic Defense Applications. Prior to joining Merrill Technologies Group, Craig specialized in the integration of sensor systems and communications for US military, Intelligence Community, and foreign partners. He is a graduate of Michigan Technological University with a degree in Electrical Engineering, and has also earned a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering from Villanova University.

	Gavin Brown Executive Director Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association Gavin Brown is recognized as the leading driving force for promoting aerospace companies active in the State of Michigan by providing aerospace prime contractors and top-tier system integrators with highly qualified sources for their part procurement in commercial, general aviation, rotor and defense. In 2007, the Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association (MAMA) was founded by Gavin and was officially launched as a fully-fledged association with an active membership. The initial membership consisted of thirteen Michigan manufacturing companies. Since then, Gavin Brown, as the executive director, has worked to promote Michigan manufacturers and procure contracts for member companies active in the aerospace and defense markets. The growth of MAMA to over fifty companies continues to increase MAMA presence as an international aerospace component supplier. OEMs, primes and sub component aerospace suppliers all use parts manufactured by MAMA members.

	Dr. Ella Atkins Associate Professor Director of Autonomous Aerospace Systems Lab University of Michigan Dr. Ella Atkins is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, where she is director of the Autonomous Aerospace Systems (A2SYS) Lab. Dr. Atkins holds B.S. and M. S. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan. Dr. Atkins’ research focuses on the integration of strategic and tactical planning and guidance algorithms to enable robust aircraft operation in the presence of system failures and environmental uncertainties. She serves on the National Academy’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB) (2011-2014 term) and is a member of the Institute for Defense Analysis Defense Science Studies Group (2012-2013).

	Aaron Cook Director of Aviation Northwestern Michigan College Aaron Cook is a graduate of Northwestern Michigan College and Davenport University holding multiple degrees in aviation and business. He is an ATP rated pilot and a multi-engine instructor with over 5000 flight hours. Cook has served as Director of Northwestern Michigan College’s Aviation program since 2006 where he has implemented numerous best practices and innovative processes to dramatically improve productivity within the program. His early vision has led the program to start UAS curriculum in 2008. Additionally, under his leadership, a strong international program has flourished creating strong ties with Universities overseas. Aaron is also a principal in a UAS Service company, The Aetos Group.

	Benjamin W. Heumann, Ph.D Professor, Geography Director, Center for Geographic Information Science Central Michigan University Dr. Heumann is the Director of the Center for Geographic Information Science and an assistant professor in the Department of Geography at Central Michigan University. He received his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011. With 10 years of international research experience in remote sensing and GIS, Dr. Heumann has worked on a variety of projects examining terrestrial and wetland systems and their interactions with environmental and anthropogenic factors. His current research focuses on the hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation in human-managed systems and wetland ecosystems using unmanned aerial systems to address issues around the topics of ecosystem services, biodiversity, and habitat conservation and restoration.

	Richard Dobson Assistant Research Scientist MTRI Richard is an Assistant Research Scientist at MTRI with over 5 years' experience applying Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing analysis for Environmental, Transportation and Geologic projects. He earned a BS (2007) in Earth Science and a MS (2013) in Environmental Science. Richard has also developed 3DOBS (3D Optical Bridge-evaluation System) for the evaluation of bridge deck surface condition and is also pilot for MTRI’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicle team.

	Chris Roussi Senior Scientist Michigan Technological Research Institute Chris Roussi has over 30 years in digital signal processing applied to remote sensing. He has designed, programmed, and deployed a variety of sensors used in environmental sensing. He has been granted six patents ranging from fractal antennas to techniques for detecting sleep apnea from EEG. He is currently involved in developing a UAS application for characterization of unpaved roads.